Orienting tasks as moderators of narrative and expository text recall in adulthood.

Incidental narrative and expository prose memory of 60 older adults (mean age 71.6 yrs) and 60 younger adults (mean age 23.6 yrs) was assessed following orienting tasks that emphasized either relational (sentence scrambling) or individual proposition (letter deletion) information or following a control condition. Orienting tasks were done capably, but older adults took longer and made more errors on the letter-deletion task than did younger adults. Age differences in recall were observed consistently for expository texts, but for narrative texts, age differences in recall were observed only when letters were deleted. If orienting tasks overtax older adults' processing resources or emphasize shallow information, recall gains may be minimal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential age-related processing limitations in recall and recognition tasks.

The degree to which processing resources are responsible for age differences in performance on recall and recognition tasks was examined in this study. To examine this, a secondary task incorporating a memory component (digit preloads) was implemented during retrieval. Results revealed that older adults, relative to younger adults, exhibited greater decrements in secondary task performance as the difficulty of the secondary task increased. These age differences were greater in the recall task than in the recognition task. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that speed accounted for the largest proportion of age-related variance in the recall task while both speed and working memory contributed to much of the secondary task variance. Results confirm the hypothesis that recall requires greater processing capacity than recognition and that older adults have greater processing-capacity limitations than younger adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Simple and complex mental subtraction: Strategy choice and speed-of-processing differences in younger and older adults.

36 younger adults (10 male, 26 female; ages 18–38 yrs) and 36 older adults (14 male, 22 female; ages 61–80 yrs) completed simple and complex paper-and-pencil subtraction tests and solved a series of simple and complex computer-presented subtraction problems. For the computer task, strategies and solution times were recorded on a trial-by-trial basis. Older Ss used a developmentally more mature mix of problem-solving strategies to solve both simple and complex subtraction problems. Analyses of component scores derived from the solution times suggest that the older Ss are slower at number encoding and number production but faster at executing the borrow procedure. In contrast, groups did not appear to differ in the speed of subtraction fact retrieval. Results from a computational simulation are consistent with the interpretation that older adults' advantage for strategy choices and for the speed of executing the borrow procedure might result from more practice solving subtraction problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and prose memory: Tests of the resource-deficit hypothesis.

Two experiments tested predictions that age differences in processing resources underlie age differences in prose recall. Topic familiarity, text length, and speed of text presentation were manipulated and reduced the amount recalled in a manner consistent with the hypothesis that these variables would tax processing resources. The amount of information recalled was systematically lower in older adults, but age differences were not increased by the experimental manipulations as expected. However, measures of the putative processing resources did account for some of the age-related variance in prose recall, and relative memorability functions suggested that the experimental manipulations interfered with the quality of recall in older adults more than in younger adults. The outcome did not support the resource-deficit hypothesis as originally proposed and may best be understood in terms of factors other than age-related deficits in the measured amounts of processing resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing the effects of aging and background noise of short-term memory performance.

Paired associate recall was tested as a function of serial position for younger and older adults for five word pairs presented aurally in quiet and in noise. In Experiment 1, the addition of noise adversely affected recall in young adults, but only in the early serial positions. Experiments 2 and 3 suggested that the recall of older adults listening to the words in quiet was nearly equivalent to that of younger adults listening in noise. In Experiment 4, we determined the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) such that, on average, younger and older adults were able to correctly hear the same percentage of words when words were presented one at a time in noise. In Experiment 5, younger adults were tested under this S/N. Compared with older adults from Experiment 3, younger adults in this experiment recalled more words at all serial positions. The results are interpreted as showing that encoding in secondary memory is impaired by aging and noise either as a function of degraded sensory representations, or as a function of reduced processing resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Activity memory and aging: The role of motor retrieval and strategic processing.

Examined the role of retrieval and encoding mechanisms in the magnitude of age differences in the recall of S-performed tasks (SPTs). 80 older (60–79 yrs old) and 80 younger adults (18–26 yrs old) were tested in 1 of 4 conditions by varying modality at both encoding and retrieval. The role of list organization in reducing age differences in SPT recall was also examined. The results suggested that older adults' SPT recall improves when motor processing is enhanced by list organization. Age differences in recall were reduced for an organized list when motor processing occurred during retrieval or encoding, but age differences in recall of an unorganized list remained under most conditions. Discrepant results in the literature concerning the magnitude of age differences in SPT recall could be due in part to differences in list characteristics, such as organization, that have not been fully explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in the inhibition of recall as a function of retrieval cues.

Asked 64 Ss from 3 age ranges (18–37, 50–64, and 65–88 yrs) to look at word lists in which the words were either categorized under headings or additionally subcategorized. Ss were then asked to recall the words when (a) the category name was given, or (b) the category name and half of the list words were given. Words recalled decreased with increasing age in all conditions. The youngest age group recalled more words when the category name only was used as a recall cue. There were no significant differences between the 2 recall conditions for the other age groups, suggesting that they were not as susceptible to recall inhibition as the younger adults. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in recall of performed and nonperformed items.

Memory for performed cognitive activities (e.g., psychometric tests of intelligence), for performed brief actions (e.g., hand wave), and for nonperformed items (e.g., written words) was assessed for 102 older and 101 younger adults. Although enactment improved recall, the beneficial effects of enactment were the same for both age groups. In fact, more than 80% of the age-related variance in memory for performed items was shared with memory for nonperformed items. Working memory and perceptual speed were important to the age differences in memory for both types of items. Performed and nonperformed items showed different serial position effects. However, the correlation between memory for the 2 types of items was high, especially for older adults, suggesting that the 2 types of memory share many common processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in predicting memory performance: The effects of normative information and task experience.

Two experiments addressed the effects of task information and experience on younger and older adults' ability to predict their memory for words. The 1st study, which involved 36 women (aged 20–30 yrs) and 36 women (aged 65–75 yrs), examined the effects of normative task information on Ss' predictions for 30-word lists across 3 trials. The 2nd study, which involved 2 groups of men and women (128 Ss total; aged 19–30 yrs and 54–77 yrs), examined the effects of making predictions and recalling either an easy or a difficult word list prior to making predictions and recalling a moderately difficult word list. Results from both studies showed that task information and experience affected Ss' predictions and that elderly adults predicted their performance more accurately than did younger adults. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of the factor structure of processing speed for younger and older adults: Testing the assumption of measurement equivalence across age groups.

The purpose of this study was to investigate measurement equivalence of processing speed measures for different age groups. A structural equation modeling approach was used to investigate a measurement model and the factorial invariance between younger and older adults on speed measures. The analyses concurrently examined whether speed-related abilities dedifferentiate with increasing age. One hundred and forty-four younger and 105 older adults completed 9 measures designed to assess motor speed, alphanumeric speed, and geometric speed. Results indicated that although the number of factors and the factor loadings were invariant across age groups, the interfactor correlations, the variance-covariance matrices, and the unique variances differed across groups. Furthermore, a second-order speed factor seemed to explain much of the variance in the 3 first-order factors, although this higher order factor accounted for slightly more variance among the older group than among the younger group. The results suggest that there is sufficient evidence of measurement equivalence on the current speed measures across the 2 adult age groups and, in addition, provide evidence of dedifferentiation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

How much and how fast: Rapid processing of spoken language in later adulthood.

Conducted 2 experiments, using 36 older adults (aged 61–82 yrs) and 24 undergraduates, in which Ss listened to and immediately recalled sentences that were systematically varied in speech rate and number of propositions. Although recall performance of the older Ss showed a disproportionate decline when speech rate was increased, older Ss, as well as the younger Ss, were able to recall sentences of increasing propositional densities. It was also found that the tendency to recall a greater proportion of main ideas than details (the levels effect) was enhanced by increased propositional density and depressed by increased speech rate and increased age. These results are discussed in terms of an age-related change in the rate at which information can be processed in working memory. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading speed and prose memory in older and younger adults.

A method is described for determining the minimum amount of time required to read a proposition in the context of a sentence. This threshold reading time was reliable, stable, and significantly longer for older adults than for younger adults. Prose memory was assessed for texts presented at varying speeds determined by the threshold reading time measure and by a whole-text reading time measure. Recall from these paced conditions was compared with recall from a self-paced condition. In general, age differences in recall tended to increase as the amount of time allowed for processing increased. The results of regression analyses suggest that although the basic speed of processing for a single sentence accounts for substantial variance in prose recall, processes that operate across sentence boundaries are also important and require further specification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and memory for words and action events: Effects of item repetition and list length.

We were concerned with the effects of item repetition, list length, and class of item on free recall in elderly as compared with young adults. In Experiment 1, samples of young and elderly adults recalled a list of 27 words and a list of 27 action events (minitasks performed by the subjects). Some items were presented once and some twice. Although the younger subjects showed better recall on both types of lists, the older sample benefited from item repetition as much as did the younger sample. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2. A second finding in Experiment 2 was a significant aging effect in the recall of long but not of short lists of both words and action events. The absence of an Age?×?Repetition Effect interaction was ascribed to the strength nature of the repetition manipulation. The age effects in the recall of the long lists were attributed to possible deficits in retrieval proficiency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in storage-retrieval processes: A stages-of-learning analysis of developmental interactions in concreteness effects.

In standard list-learning experiments, Age × Treatment interactions have been regarded as an important source of information regarding the locus (storage/retrieval) of age-related memory deficits in adulthood. Unfortunately, these interactions may be spurious byproducts of the use of fixed-trials designs in which age and completeness of learning are confounded. In this paper, we report two experiments in which these problems were explored in the context of item concreteness effects in young and old adults' free recall. In each experiment, eighty 20-year-olds and forty-two 70-year-olds memorized a 16-item list to a stringent acquisition criterion. The manipulations were pictures versus words (Exp. 1) and concrete versus abstract nouns (Exp. 2). The data were analyzed using a recently developed two-stage model that delivers numerical estimates of the impact of these manipulations on the storage and retrieval components of recall. For Experiment 1, the results showed that: (a) for young adults, pictures were easier to store and retrieve than words; (b) for old adults, there was a pictorial superiority effect at storage but a marked pictorial inferiority effect at retrieval; and (c) although younger adults were better than older adults at storing pictures and words and at retrieving pictures, older adults were better than younger adults at retrieving words. For Experiment 2, the results showed that: (a) on average, concrete words were easier to store and retrieve than abstract words at both age levels; and (b) on average, although younger adults were better than older adults at storing concrete and abstract words and at retrieving abstract words, older adults were better than younger adults at retrieving concrete words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of sad mood on memory in older adults: A test of the mood congruence effect.

Mood congruence effects have long been studied in younger adults. but not in older adults. Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) suggests that mood congruence could operate differently in older adults. One hundred and nineteen younger and 78 older adults were randomly assigned to sad or neutral mood inductions, using combined Velten and music induction procedures. Results indicated that during sad mood induction both older and younger adults showed enhanced recall of sad words on delayed word list recall task and in autobiographical memory. However, only older adults displayed mood congruence effects on lexical ambiguity and lower recall of positive words in the word list task. Results provided partial support for developmental effects on mood congruence derived from SST. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accounting for age differences on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: Decreased working memory, not inflexibility.

Two experiments examined the role of cognitive inflexibility and reduced working memory in age-related declines on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Ss for the first experiment were 85 younger adults (mean age 19.7 yrs) and 76 older adults (mean age 70.3 yrs). For the second experiment, Ss were 48 younger and 48 older adults (mean ages 20.3 yrs and 69.8 yrs, respectively). Both standard scoring procedures and newly developed scores were used to measure each construct, and modifications of the test further evaluated the role of working memory. Results indicated that age differences are not due to cognitive inflexibility but that for a subset of older adults errors are associated with a reduction in the amount of information that can be stored or processed in working memory. These age differences disappear, however, when visual cues provide information about the immediately preceding sort. The authors conclude by proposing a decline in updating working memory as the explanation that can best account for the entire pattern of age differences on this test. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult Age Differences in Distinctive Processing: The Modality Effect on False Recall.

Age differences in distinctive processing were investigated by examining the effects of study presentation modality on false recall in younger and older adults using the Deese/Roediger and McDermott paradigm. Participants were presented with study words either visually or auditorily. Older adults did not show the typical reduction in false recall after visual, compared to auditory, study presentation (R.E. Smith & R.R. Hunt, 1998). The authors interpret these results as evidence of reduced distinctive processing on the part of older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are backward words special for older adults?

Two experiments comparing older and young adults confirmed that Stroop interference from lists of incongruent color words was greater for older adults. Similar age effects were observed when the lists of words were presented in 2 unusual print orientations (upside-down; backward and upside-down). In contrast, no age effect was observed, when participants named colors on backward-word lists, as measured with a percentage interference score that corrected for individual differences in baseline (color patches) naming times. Reading speed failed to account for all the interference effects in these data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of relational and item-specific information in remembering by older and younger adults.

The applicability to older adults of predictions from the integrated memory model, that optimal memory results from concurrent availability of relational and item-specific information, was assessed. In Experiment 1, older adults (M?=?69 years) encoded related or unrelated words using rating, sorting, or both tasks. Using both tasks produced better recall than either separate task. Rating facilitated recall for related items, but sorting did not facilitate unrelated items. In Experiment 2, younger (M?=?20) and older (M?=?74) adults sorted or rated lists comprising categories of varying sizes. Young adults' free recall conformed to predictions, but older adults again showed facilitation mainly from rating larger categories. The stronger effects for younger adults imply that specific combinations of encoding and retrieval manipulations and materials must be considered in predicting older adults' performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)